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Toronto police officers plead not guilty in two separate cases

The alleged police brutality case that almost never came to court began Monday, seven years after drug squad officers stormed a west-end Toronto apartment.

Ontario’s Special Investigations Unit didn’t learn about the June 7, 2006, incident until its officials read a Star report on a judge’s findings in the case.

Det.-Const. Gerrard Arulanandam has been charged with assault causing bodily harm and uttering threats against a man who was arrested. The officer has pleaded not guilty. (ANDREW FRANCIS WALLACE / TORONTO STAR)

In June 2008, Superior Court Justice Brian Trafford threw out firearms charges against Shayne Fisher and his co-accused, ruling that police had physically abused them and much of the officers’ testimony was “unreliable, likely false.”

All Ontario police services are under a legal obligation to immediately notify the SIU of incidents of serious injury, allegations of sexual assault, or death involving their officers.

Three years ago, the SIU announced it had charged Det.-Const. Gerrard Arulanandam with assault causing bodily harm and uttering threats. The officer has pleaded not guilty.

The 29-year-old carpenter testified Monday he was listening to music and smoking a joint in a neighbour’s apartment on Lawrence Ave. W., near Keele St., when police crashed through the door.

Fisher, who has no criminal record, immediately got down on the ground and was kicked multiple times, which left a “boot print on the side of my face,” he told Superior Court Justice Harriet Sachs, who is hearing the case without a jury.

He testified he was struck 10 to 20 times in the back and kidney area with a metal object, before a bald “very imposing, big man” picked him up by his shirt collar and kneed him three or four times in the ribs, “asking me where are the drugs.”

Fisher testified the officer told him: “If you ask for a hospital, I’m going to be the one who takes you and you’ll really need it.”

Crown Attorney Peter Scrutton asked Fisher if he has filed a lawsuit against police.

“I’m not looking for vengeance or monetary compensation,” he replied.

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During cross-examination, defence lawyer Peter Brauti produced a typewritten letter Fisher dictated to his mother from the Toronto “Don” Jail two or three days after his arrest.

The letter said an officer, referred to as a racial slur, had kicked him in the head repeatedly, though he testified Monday that he could not identify which officer was responsible for the kicks. The letter also failed to refer to Fisher’s witness box assertion that Arulanandam delivered three knee strikes.

An unrelated, yet similar trial, this one in front of a jury, also got underway Monday involving Toronto police officer Boris Petkovic. He is charged with aggravated assault for shooting a man on Aug. 20, 2007. Petkovic has pleaded not guilty.

Like the Arulanandam case, the SIU laid the charge only after becoming aware of the allegations years after the fact.

The incident took place on Eglinton Ave. E., between Bermondsey Rd. and Victoria Park Ave., after Petkovic pulled over a BMW being driven by Phabien Rhodius, on bail at the time in relation to firearms charges in Brampton.

“The real issue in this case is whether the shooting was a justified use of force,” Crown Attorney John McInnes told the jury.

After serving a sentence on the firearms charge, Rhodius contacted the police watchdog believing it had his BMW. The SIU had no record of the case, McInnes told jurors.

“They asked Rhodius to explain what had happened. Then they opened an investigation . . . which led ultimately to the charge before you today.”

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